(WIAA) WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Teams and individual champions were crowned in three boys’ and girls’ divisions at the 2025 State Cross Country Championships at The Ridges Golf Course Saturday.
Neenah was the Division 1 girls team champion for the second year in a row with a five-runner score of 71 to record the program’s fifth State championship. Slinger finished second in the team standings with a score of 84. Senior Lauren McCalla of Menomonie improved on her sixth-place standing last year to win the Division 1 individual crown with a time of 17:26.4, which shattered the Division 1 State Meet record for 5-kilometers. She also qualified in 2023 and ran to a 10th-place finish. Senior Ella Anschutz of Muskego was denied a third straight individual championship, finishing runner-up with a time of 17.41.4.
Stevens Point Area Senior High cruised to the boys Division 1 team championship for the fourth straight season and for the 15th time in program history, which ranks second-most among member schools. The Panthers finished with a five-runner score of 69 points. Homestead finished a distant second on the leaderboard with 113 points. Senior Grady Lenn of De Pere earned the individual championship with a time of 15:03.2, which ranks third-fastest in Division 1 State Meet history on a 5-kilometer course. He finished runner-up last year and third in 2023. Senior Lucas Tanner of DeForest was second with a time of 15:24.2 following a seventh-place finish a year ago and 23rd in 2023.
Shorewood earned the Division 2 boys team championship and won the program’s 10th State title, which ranks third among the membership. The Greyhounds finished with 66 points. Kohler, last season’s Division 2 champion after winning back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023, finished second with 72 points. Carter Kucko of Rice Lake was the Division 2 individual champion with a time of 15:45.6, which ranks seventh fastest in Division 2 history, after place fourth a year ago and 14th in 2023. Senior Thomas McCarthy of Berlin was second with a time of 15:53.2
Mount Horeb, as a stand-alone program, captured it fourth girls’ championship by winning the Division 2 title. The Vikings also have an additional title with Barneveld as a co-op. They finished with 90 points, and McFarland scored 112 for second place. Senior Emmerson Drobac of Deerfield/Cambridge won the girls Division 2 for the second consecutive season, covering the course in a time of 18:01.4, which is the sixth-fastest Division 2 time after setting the State Meet record a year ago. She also qualified in 2023 and ran to a fifth-place finish. Sophomore Maddie Driscoll of Lancaster came in second with a time of 18:26.7, improving on last season’s ninth-place finish.
St. Ambrose/Abundant Life Christian won the program’s first State cross country championship by capturing the boys’ Divisionn 3 title with a five-runner score of 113. Prentice/Rib Lake finished in second place with 137 points. Sophomore Jonathan Simon of St. Ambrose/Abundant Life Christian ran to the boys’ Division 3 medalist honor with a time of 16:06.9 after placing 15th last year. Junior Nolan Waltz of Three Lakes/Phelps was runner-up, completing the course in a time of 16:11.2 to improve on an eighth-place finish in 2024.
Darlington edged out former defending champion Kohler to hoist the girls’ Division 3 team championship trophy. The Redbirds compiled a score of 92 to capture the program’s second State team championship. The Blue Bombers bid for a second consecutive title fell short with 96 points. Junior Maggie Behler of Kohler raced to the individual championship in Division 3 with a time of 18:22.5, which is the fourth-fastest pace in Division 3 history. She improved on runner-up finishes the past two seasons. Senior Addy Duellman of Cochrane-Fountain City came in second with a time of 18:36.3
